Tim Stands up for Cathy
by Dragon with a Shotgun
Summary: When bullies pick a new target, Tim feels his temper build when they pick on little Cathy, and he learns new things about himself after he stands up for her.


**Batman**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Just another short story, this time set back when Cathy and Tim were much younger and closer to the time when Cathy was early in living with Bruce Wayne. I don't know much about Tim's school or anything, but I just went along with my imagination so… Enjoy!**

**Tim stands up for Cathy**

Tim secured his backpack onto his back, looking around for a certain little girl wearing a pale blue dress. He had just left his classroom, ready to go home now that the final bell of the day had rung. But he was a bit gloomy, though, because he had a bunch of math homework. Today's lesson was over multiplication, and the teachers had given them big numbers, and they weren't allowed to use calculators.

And if that wasn't bad enough, he had to watch over Cathy until Alfred got to the school. Ever since that girl came to the mansion, Tim had only heard girly giggles that distracted him from his homework. She was always showing him pictures she'd drawn with crayons, which were usually poorly done although he couldn't take that too seriously since she was only six. Her personality was too bubbly, and she never knew what exactly she was talking about! Alfred sure seemed to like her, though. He was always making sure she was happy and had what she wanted, whereas Tim was stuck with Bruce during training down in the Batcave. She didn't even know about the Batcave or Batman for that matter. And the questions! She asked too many questions and was too nosy, like she couldn't think of a better thing to do than to annoy him. Whenever he was doing his homework, she would always come into his room or disturb him while he was watching TV instead of doing it.

He grumbled under his breath, already knowing that when she found him she was going to tell him every single detail about what happened to her today, about what she learned, about what the teacher said, about what activities she and her friends did, who did what and who was who… Jeez, he was already sick of thinking of it!

Tim sighed as he leaned up against one of the trees that stood outside of the front of the school. He stuck his hands in his pockets after he loosened his shirt a bit, trying to get rid of the itch that nagged at him on his neck from the collar of the shirt. He let his bag hang loosely at his side and closed his eyes to let his thoughts swirl in his head for a little bit before he lost them when the chatter-box arrived.

"Hey, Tim," At first he flinched at the voice, but when he opened his eyes to look for Cathy, he instead saw one of the pretty girl she'd being watching some time ago. She was wearing a pink school dress, her white socks reached up just below her knees, and her black sandals stood out on her feet. He remembered her blonde hair, which was put in a small ponytail, and her green eyes, which were blinking curiously at him. But… he forgot her name… Dang it! What was her name?!

He smiled nervously and stuttered. "Oh! Uh… Hey! How are you?"

She smiled. "I'm good. How are you?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, searching for an answer even though it wasn't too hard to find. But he didn't want to sound upset or dreading, so… he put on his best good-looking smile and leaned back against the tree coolly. "Ah, I'm good. Can't wait to get home and finish this math work. Jeez, something's wrong with that teacher!"

"Is it really that hard?" the girl asked, smiling oddly.

"Well, it's pretty easy, but… uh… she gave us more than the usual today." he replied.

She giggled. "Yeah. You know, we never talk much."

Tim shrugged, and grinned smoothly and tilted his head slightly. "Eh, I don't know much to talk about. But… I would like to talk if you want to sometime."

She arched a brow at him and looked to be thinking over that. Tim could feel his hope rising. Maybe he now had a chance to have a girlfriend, maybe he had a chance to be with one of the most popular girls in school! By the look on her face, he was so sure that she wanted to talk to him. But before she could answer, a voice called out from the crowd.

"Timmy! Timmy!" In the crowd, a little girl in a pale blue dress and black sandals and white socks came running, carrying her pink backpack over her shoulders, her brown hair cut and straightened, and her eyes lighting up when she saw the boy she was looking for. She hurried to the tree, and Tim felt his heart sink and his annoyance rising already.

"Who's that?" the girl he was talking to asked, not exactly frowning but a small curious expression showing on her pretty face.

Cathy looked up at the much taller girl, and suddenly her happy smile became shy and small, and she scuffed one of her feet on the ground, trying to huddle closer to the older boy. Tim sighed and shook his head.

"She's nobody, just a girl that my dad brought home." he said, huffing when Cathy looked up at him for a moment before looking at the girl.

The girl frowned for a moment, and then smiled at Cathy. "Hello, I'm Lauren. What's your name?"

Cathy smiled shyly up at her. "I'm Cathy! I'm his little sissy!"

Lauren giggled and smiled brightly in amusement. Of course, it was the typical brother and sister kind of relationship. The brother didn't like the sister, but the sister loved the brother.

"Are you bubba's girlfriend?" Cathy asked, rocking back and forth on her heels in an adorable manner. Tim's eyes widened and his jaw fell. He couldn't believe it, she was going to ruin his chance to actually get a girlfriend! Girls didn't want a boy with a goody-two-shoes little sister, they wanted a boy who was tough and could take care of himself. He stammered, but couldn't get any good enough words out to stop Cathy from talking to Lauren.

Lauren, though also seeming to be taken aback by the question, smiled all the same and laughed at the cuteness. "Well, I'm a friend of his."

"So you are his girlfriend?" Cathy asked again. When Lauren looked at her questionably, she looked down. "Well… you are a girl… and you are his friend… so you are his girlfriend?"

At that statement the older girl smiled and looked at Tim, who had a slightly horrified look on his face despite his failing attempts to smile. "Yeah… If you put it that way, yeah. I'm his 'girlfriend'." Tim's face heated up a little, and he rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly. He scraped his foot across the dirt and he looked down at the ground.

Then Tim sighed. "Well… I guess we gotta get to the waiting spot. Alfred always picks us up there."

Lauren smiled. "I'll walk with you. My friends are already on their way home."

So she tagged along, walking beside Tim as he tried to keep up a conversation about him taking a karate class, which she found interesting. She talked to him about some problems she was having with Social Studies, which was her least favorite subject. Cathy mentioned something about learning about Christopher Columbus when she was in in school a few days back, and the older girl smiled and talked about what she knew of him. Tim often grew annoyed with Cathy, but Lauren really seemed to like her. Lauren liked the energetic elementary child, and found it funny how as the little girl tried to get her brother's attention and he'd try to ignore her unless he absolutely had no choice in the matter.

"Hey, rich boy!"

Tim turned around and frowned at the larger boy. He was a red-head, wearing a yellow shirt and jeans. Two other boys were behind him wearing the same grin their ring leader wore. Tim didn't know any of their names, but he'd seem them around the school. The ring leader was actually in a grade above him, but the other two were in his grade.

Cathy huddled slower to Tim, hiding her face in his jacket. Tim groaned, feeling embarrassed to have the little kid acting so wimpy. But he looked back at the boy. "What do you want?"

The boy grinned at him and his eyes traveled down lower to the girl hugging Tim's side. "How many kids does your dad take in off the streets?"

At first, Tim frowned at him and was about to make a witty comeback, mainly because it was slightly insulting to Bruce. But Lauren frowned in agitation, and tugged at Tim's arm gently. "Come on, it's not worth it." Tim sighed and nodded in reluctant agreement. He turned away and walked back towards the way they were walking, Cathy following close behind. But the boys followed.

"Why didn't he take her to an orphanage?" the leader called, "She would've made a lot more friends there!"

"Yeah, what's so special about her?" another asked.

Cathy gasped when she dropped a piece of rolled up paper that she kept in an open pocket of her backpack. She let go of Tim's jacket and hurried back to go pick it up, but when she bent down to reach for it, a foot landed on the paper, making a crackling sound ring out. For a minute, Cathy stared wide-eyed at the wrinkled and dirtied paper that was pinned under the boy's foot, but then she looked up with saddened and hurt eyes that were starting to fill with tears.

"Look at her! She doesn't look like anything special! Look at this little dress, this pink little backpack. It don't even match!" the leader sneered, picking at the pack and pulling it off her back and dropping it on the ground. Cathy went to pick it back up, but she jerked her hand back when the boy kicked the bag away. She let out a small whimper. These boys were so much bigger than her, and they were mean. Why were they so mean?

Tim had halted in his tracks and turned around. He was about to make Cathy hurry up, but when he saw the hurt expression on her face, the tears streaming down her rosy cheeks, and her legs shaking, he froze on the spot, his shoulders tensed and his jaw clenched.

"Why would a rich man take in a little wimpy girl like this? It's a pretty big waste if you ask me!" the other boy exclaimed, poking her in the chest and making her squeak. She hugged herself and looked down, too scared to look up at their faces. The boys laughed at her, cracking other jokes and making mean remarks about her.

Tim felt his blood beginning to boil. His breaths became shallower, and he felt Lauren let go of his arm. He growled under his breath, and he knew he wouldn't' be able to control himself.

"Aw, what's the matter, little sissy? Did we hurt your feelings?" the leader asked Cathy, bending down and leaning toward her. She leaned away, and when she didn't look at him, he patted her cheek rather harshly to get her attention. She grunted and tried to take a step back, but she tripped over her pack that had been kicked away, and she fell on her rear with a yelp and sob.

That did it. Tim could only see what his body was doing, heard his feet stomping the ground and his arms rolling up the sleeves to his shirt. He dropped his jacket on the ground, not caring whether Alfred was going to give a damn later. His eyes burned with anger, and he didn't even hear Lauren call his name. He walked in front of Cathy, keeping his legs in front of her and himself between her and the boys.

The ring leader of the boys stopped laughing and glared at Tim, his chest getting bigger like he knew that he was about to have to pound this kid's face in. The other two boys rallied behind their friend, and they began cracking their knuckles in a so called 'intimidating' manner. "What're you gonna do about it, rich boy?"

Tim cracked his knuckles for good measure as he marched toward him. "I'm gonna give you a taste of your own medicine. And it won't be the cherry-flavored kind either!"

The boy growled, and kids around them had already begun to form a circle, chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" The boys circled each other, and before the bully had a chance to throw a hit at Tim, he only saw a fist in front of his face and was already on the ground screaming as he held his now bloodying nose with his hands. But he got back up and shook his head, glaring at Tim with raging eyes now. He ran forward, throwing a fist at him, but Tim easily dodged it, and grabbed him and flung him over his shoulder karate-style. The bully hit the ground, and his two mates charged at Tim. Tim ducked under one's swing, avoided a kick. The blows they were lashing out with were clumsy, uncoordinated, easy for the Batman's student to dodge and counter.

Lauren had grabbed up Cathy and dragged her back away from the chaos, but not before the little elementary girl snatched up the wrinkled paper that the bully had stepped on. "Timmy!" she squealed, her eyes watering up more as the older girl held her close. She watched in amazement as Tim easily fought the three boys.

Another boy threw a hit at Tim, this time catching him in the eye. He staggered back, stunned as the other boys ganged up and knocked him to the ground. They began kicking at him, their shoes making hard contact with his sides and ribs before he caught one of them and pulled so that the other boys got their feet hung on his foot and tripped. As Tim got to his feet, one of them got back up and tackled him to the ground. He cried out in surprise, but fought back all the same. The leader of the three continued to hit him, sometimes hitting Tim in the cheek or nose. He then shoved him off, and he kicked at another one of the three bullies, hitting his knee and making the young boy yelp and hit the ground.

The other two were about to lunge at Tim, but a pair of hands grabbed the backs of their shirts and one grabbed him from the back of his and pulled him back. He cried out in anger and struggled against the grip until he heard a familiar voice.

"Master Tim, please! Control yourself this instant!" Alfred demanded, holding the boy by his shoulders tightly. Tim was suddenly calming down, his heart still racing he glared after the three boys who were being held still by a principle and another female teacher. They all glared back at him until they were jerked off towards the school building. One of the other teachers yelled at the other students to get on their busses and go home, and then patrolled around the lot to make sure no more fights happened again.

Tim was still taking a moment to recollect his sanity, and he took in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. He then looked down at the ground, and saw the little sparkly pink backpack that the bully had kicked away. Some of the sparkly gems that had been glued to it were in the dirt, shining in the sunlight and dirt covered the pink backpack. He walked over to it, bent down and picked it up, and slowly approached Cathy. At the moment, Alfred was dusting her off while Tim was calming down. Tim tried his best to dust the bag off, and then he carefully handed it to her. She took it slowly with a shaking hand, and then he turned away to go to the office to take whatever crap that was waiting for him.

When he and the boys got out of the office after the lectures and punishments, they were walking back to the parking lot. The punishment was a paddling and five weeks of lunch detention, but that was nothing compared to what Bruce was probably going to do to him when he got home. When Tim threw a glance at the three bullies, they gasped and looked away in what looked like fear. For a moment, he almost felt a little proud of himself.

Lauren must had gone home during his time in the office, so he sighed and let Cathy get into the car before sitting down next to the window. She sat in the seat in the middle, but he leaned away from her and against the window. He pressed his temple against the glass, and watched as the car began to move and they were on the road. Nobody said a word on the way back to the mansion.

When they did get back, Tim slowly walked into the living room where Bruce was reading the paper. The TV was on quiet, probably just something to provide a little sound until Alfred brought the kids back home, and he wondered why they were late getting home, a few hours late at that. He had called Alfred, and all he had told Bruce was that something happened and that they would be home soon. Bruce heard the sound of footsteps and looked up to greet Tim, but when he saw the sight in front of him, his brows furrowed and he had a shocked look. Tim's short was torn a little, dusty and a little blood here and there on his sleeves, and his black pants paled from dust and wrinkled. His right eye was blackened, bruised to the point where it was only a relief to close it, scratches were all over his arms and cheeks, his hair ruffled and tangled. When his eyes traveled to the boy's hands, his knuckles were red and a little bloodied, a sure sign that he had been hitting someone.

"Tim, what in God's name happened?!" Bruce demanded, standing up and walking over to Tim. When he raised a hand to look at the boy's face, Tim turned his head away to keep from being touched.

"Got into a fight at school…" the boy answered, a murmur quiet enough to not be heard by some, but was easily caught by the Batman's ears. Bruce frowned at him.

"Why?"

Tim looked down, not sure how to explain exactly what had caused it. To be honest, he wasn't really too sure himself. All he could mainly remember was getting mad about something, he remembered the bullies picking on Cathy. Before Bruce could interrogate him anymore, Tim marched off towards the direction of his room. Bruce was about to go after him, but Alfred put a hand on his shoulder, and bit by bit began to explain what happened at the school.

An hour later in his room, Tim sat on his bed with a medical kit that he picked up out of the bathroom on the way to his room, and an ice pack that he got out of the kitchen resting on his ankle, which he guessed where he had pulled a muscle. He was now wearing no shirt, and was wearing shorts so he could get to the small cuts on his legs. Without a shirt, it was revealed that his abdomen was covered in black painful bruises from where he had been kicked and punched. He had some scratches on his stomach and back, and he had a hard time getting to those. But he didn't want to ask for help. He really just wanted to be alone. He was putting some antiseptic cream on a gash on his arm, and after he finished with that he picked up the roll of wrapping tape and he began to wrap his arm. He then began to put bandages on the smaller cuts on his legs.

He guessed that maybe he had been a little too rejecting toward Cathy. He knew that she could be annoying, but… he knew that it would have been wrong to let those guys pick on her like that. He was Robin after all. He had to protect the innocent and weak, those who couldn't defend themselves. He began to feel guilt eating at his heart. He'd let all of that happen… He had let her get scared of those bullies, and for a moment, he allowed it to go on. He had been hoping that the boys would've lost interest and left, but that didn't happen. They had their next victim locked in their sights, and they weren't going to let off until they made her cry. Tim had been so angry about the way they treated her, how they could just do that to a little girl who was only six. She was so innocent, so… so… defenseless and small. She didn't know the feeling of being picked on until then.

He grew agitated with his tormented mind and bored of sitting on the bed and stood up. He walked over to the mirror, and looked at his beaten reflection. He glared at it, feeling his blood boil again. As hard as he tried to keep his temper down, a bit of it escaped and he slammed his fist against the mirror. He gasped and clutched his now bleeding hand to his chest, feeling the pain sting at it and run up his arm and making his teeth grind in rough movements.

Deciding that maybe it was safer to sit back down, he went back to the bed and plopped down next to the medical kit and began to dig through it for more antiseptic stuff for his new wounds on his hand. A few minutes later, he heard a knock on the door, and he sighed in tired agitation.

"Alfred, I'm not really in the mood." But the butler's voice didn't reply back, and he looked to the door. Instead, Cathy peeked into the room, her eyes uncertain. "Oh…" Tim sighed as he began to dig through the bag again, finally finding another container of antiseptic. "Sorry… thought you were Alfred."

Cathy came into the room, closing the door softly behind her. She was wearing her new pajamas, pink button up shirt and pants with hearts dotting them. She held a stuffed panda bear in her hands, and she walked over to the bed.

"Timmy?" she said in a small voice.

Tim looked at her. "Yeah?"

She looked down, and then crawled up onto the bed. "Why did you fight?" she asked when she settled down next to him.

He blinked at her for a moment slowly, thinking of a way to explain it so that she could understand. But then he realized that the answer was actually simple, and he began to wrap his hand again after he put the cream on his wound. It pretty much distracted him from other thoughts than the question she was asking. "'Cuz they were hurting you."

Cathy looked down, and then at his hand. She put her fingers on the top of his knuckles, looking at the wrap that hugged his hand and wrist tightly. The bandages wrapped around his hand in a certain way that still allowed his fingers to move. Tim studied her timid face, and he smiled.

"It's okay. It doesn't hurt." he said reassuringly.

"It doesn't?" she asked, taking his hand and looking at it. He wiggled his fingers and she smiled ant put hers smaller digits on his. He smiled at her as she studied over his hand, but then she lifted it up to her face and she looked at his pinkie finger. It had a small cut on the side, and now that he could see it, he could feel it. It felt like a small paper cut, but not much to worry about.

She then slid off the bed, disappeared out the door, and a minute later the door opened again and she closed it a crack behind her before jumping back onto the bed. She crawled over to Tim's side, and then grabbed his hand again.

"Here, this will make it better." she said in a small voice, putting something around his pinkie finger. Then she brought his hand to her face and she kissed his finger. When she was done, he looked at it and smiled affectionately. It was a pink band aid with little hearts on it, looking like it matched her pajamas. He looked at Cathy with happy eyes, and she smiled back.

"I have something for you, but it messed up when he stepped on it…" she trailed off when she took something from her pocket. It looked like that piece of paper she had almost lost earlier that afternoon. She put it in his hand, and he carefully opened it and looked at the image. It was of course drawn in crayon, and a dusty footprint was stained on the front. He saw that the picture was of two stick figures, one in pink and the other in green. There was writing above each, over the pink one was _Cathy _and over the green was _Timmy_. There was a big red heart drawn above them, and a circle sun with yellow line marks around it in the background, and the stick figures were standing in scratchy-looking grass. But there was a happy face on both the figures' faces, and he found himself smiling as he looked at the picture.

"I'm sorry it messed up… You don't like it, do you…?" Cathy asked timidly, her shoulders slumping while he still kept silent. But Tim looked up at her and smiled, and she looked back curiously before he suddenly flung his arms around her, paper still clutched within his fingers as he brought her close to him and gave her a tight squeeze despite the uncomfortable bruises that covered his body.

"Of course, I like it!" he exclaimed, nuzzling his chin against her hair.

"Really? You really like it, Timmy?" she asked, her eyes shining but searching.

Tim grinned and nodded. "Yup. In fact, I think it's the best one you've drawn. I'll put it right here with the others." He leaned over and opened the drawer filled with other pictures she had drawn for him. For the time being, it had been just a place to put them out of the way. But now… He was happy to have them there. Then he sat back up and smiled at her, but he also saw that she was uncertain.

"Timmy? Do you love me?" she said quietly, not quite sure whether to ask or not.

The question struck Tim for a moment, and he felt guilt trying to eat at him again. Had his disliking for her been so obvious that even she had noticed it? Was that why she had given him all of those worthless papers with those crappy crayon drawings? Why she had been telling him everything that she had learned? So she could impress him? She had been trying to get him to like her all of this time… and he hadn't even noticed it… He could see that she was waiting for an answer still, and he could see a saddened look in her eyes. Suddenly all of those papers that she had given him meant so much more now. He now felt so proud of her for learning all of those things like how to spell _firefighter_ and _happy_. She'd been doing all of that for him… to make him a happy big brother…

"Well, DUH! Why else would I deal with you every day?" he exclaimed, hooking an arm around her neck and ruffling her hair. She squealed and tried to wriggle out of his grip. But he then began to tickle her stomach and she squeaked with laughter and the cutest little smile appeared on her face. She was pulled into his lap and he continued his tickly onslaught and she was powerless to do a thing about it, but she was at the same time loving the attention she was receiving from him, the attention that she had been waiting for for so long.

Bruce was on his way to Tim's room to see if he was still up, walking up the stairs before he stopped, hearing laughter and voices from the room. He walked up the rest of the stairs and looked to the door, and saw that it was cracked open, so he took a chance to peek inside to see what was going on. He opened the door a little more, and looked at the scene. Tim was chasing Cathy around the room, around on the bed and under the bed. But finally Tim caught the younger girl, swinging her upside down and twirling her around, tickling her feet and making the girl jerk and giggle madly. The young girl squealed with delight and he continued to spin her around and around until he himself became dizzy and they both toppled over in a heap of laughter.

Bruce couldn't believe his eyes, but yet his eyes didn't lie. He smiled brightly, opening the door more and allowing himself to enter the room filled with laughter. The two kids didn't notice him for a moment, and they continued their fit and refused to calm down. But finally the light from the door for a brief second seemed to catch their attention. Their laughter died down into gasps and for Cathy hiccups. Then Tim laughed at her because of her hiccups, and Cathy laughed at Tim when he about choked.

"Jeez, what's got you two so worked up?" Bruce asked, smiling with one brow arched and his arms crossed.

Cathy tried to speak. "He… I… we just… Hehehe!" But she failed and faded back into giggles.

He next looked at Tim, who was having the same problem, but was able to sit up. "Ah, we're just havin' some fun." But then he furrowed a brow at the man and smiled slightly with one side of his lip curling up. "But then again you wouldn't know about fun, wouldn't you?" Cathy giggled at his statement and fell backwards.

Bruce stared at them for a moment, but then a broad and wicked grin spread over his face. Tim suddenly almost regretted what he said, and he began to titter while Cathy giggled. But the man's gaze was not only directed to Tim, and she began to scoot back when Bruce closed the door and turned back to them. He began to walk towards them, and seeing no other choice, the kids bolted. They went in two different directions, but Bruce easily caught Cathy and he plopped her on the bed and his fingers instantly began to dance all over her. She screamed and started kicking out her feet and trying to push his hands away from her sensitive body, but he grabbed her feet in one hand and he scratched his calloused-skinned fingers over the bottoms of her soles, making her squeak and try even harder to escape.

"Don't worry! I'll save you!" Tim shouted before jumping on Bruce's shoulders. Bruce growled playfully, and Tim's plan to try to throw Bruce off-balanced backfired when the man jerked the boy off his back and dropped him onto the bed. Being much bigger than the two, Bruce was easily able to hold the both of them down while tickling them at the same time. His left hand poking and prodding Tim's stomach and sides caused the boy to erupt into laughter and even a snort every now and then, and his right hand scratched up and down Cathy's sides and underarms, causing her to squeal and hiccup in giggles and uncontrollable laughter.

"So, you said I didn't know how to have fun?" Bruce taunted, scratching at Tim's sides with his short nails and earning a scream, and the boy's grin grew wider until Bruce could almost swear the Joker had given him laughing gas.

"I-I'm-HAHA- I'm sorry! Hehehe-Hahaha! I'm sorry!" Tim shrieked, but Bruce kept up his assault, and he wasn't being light on them either. Cathy made no attempt to plead for mercy, she only went along and allowed herself to happily laugh. She was really enjoying this, and apparently so was Tim… with all of the laughter he was letting out.

"You're sorry? You don't sound like it. If you were serious about an apology, you wouldn't be laughing, Tim." Bruce said as-a-matter-of-factly, smiling almost evilly as he continued his torture.

"YOU'RE TICKLING ME!" Tim shouted after holding in his breath for as long as he could before cracking up again.

"Of course I am. What does it look like I'm doing?" the man chuckled.

Tim gritted his teeth. Cathy was panting and giggling, so he decided that she had had enough. Maybe this could be Tim's punishment for what happened at school with those boys. Besides, having been so grumpy lately, the boy deserved this. Bruce winked at Cathy, who giggled at him in return. Bruce sat on the bed, used one leg to pin Tim's legs down, used one hand to hold the boy's hands above his head.

"Aw, c'mon, Bruce!" Tim sighed out dramatically. "You're killing me!"

"I wouldn't call it killing you." Bruce said, lowering his hand to the boy's side.

"Please don't…" the boy pleaded while chuckling, his eyes studying the man's eyes and hand.

"Don't what?" Bruce asked innocently.

"TICKLE ME!" Tim blurted before he thought about what Bruce was doing, and he gasped when he realized what he said. Oh come on, that had to be the oldest tactic in the book! And he had to be the one to fall for it.

Bruce grinned in triumph. "Oh? Tickle you? Why didn't you say so? If you want to be tickled, all you have to do is ask me." Then the man proceeded to rake his fingers up and down the boy's ribs. Not wearing a shirt really put Tim at a disadvantage, and Bruce knew that that was exactly what he was thinking when the boy immediately exploded, and rocked his head back against the blanket on the bed.

"NO!" the young boy cackled, his back arching and his stomach trying to suck in. "Cathy, help!"

Cathy giggled and latched onto Bruce's side. Bruce looked down at the girl and chuckled, and she attempted to tickle him herself, but him being so big compared to her and her hands so tiny, she couldn't really do much to him. But it did prove as a distraction for Tim to slip his feet out from under the man's leg. He got loose from Bruce's grasp and tackled Bruce onto his back on the bed. The whole bed shook and they all laughed. Tim then tried his best to tickle the man, and even earned a few giggles when he scratched at the right spots. But Bruce grabbed their wrists and lifted them up off of him. Tim and Cathy then were both set free, and they jumped off the bed and ran for cover. Bruce jumped off the bed and ran after them. The two hadn't even gotten far when he snatched them both up in each arm, did a spin, and fall backwards on the bed. They all cracked back up, but then they just lay there on the bed, panting and laughing, gasping for air as they recovered from their fun.

"Heh-heh… Phew! Okay!" Bruce chuckled, his chest heaving up and down as he fought for oxygen. Tim and Cathy both giggled together, looking at each other across the man's chest, and then letting out sighs of exhaustion. Suddenly, Cathy let out a small yawn, and she was overwhelmed by sleep and after a single moment of trying to fight it, she was fast asleep curled up under Bruce's left arm with her face buried in his side. Tim even found himself drifting off into dreamland. His head was leaning, and finally his head dropped on Bruce's chest, and he was out. The man could feel himself falling too, and he chuckled in amusement at the two kids. He then shook his head, yawned, and then let his eyes close and he was blanketed by the lulling darkness of sleep.


End file.
